Real-world clinical profile, RET mutation testing, treatments and patient-related outcomes for medullary thyroid cancer in Europe
Authors' conclusion
Patients with aMTC report substantial disease/treatment burden. Outcomes could be improved by identifying patients eligible for treatment with selective RET inhibitors through more optimal RET mutation testing.
Study context
- Population
- Patients with advanced or metastatic MTC (aMTC) in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, July–December 2020, before selective RET inhibitors in Europe79 RET mutation-positive
- Participants
- 275 patients
- Outcome
- RET mutation testing and first-line systemic therapy in aMTC
Methodological detailsphysician and patient surveys, multinational (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK), real-world
- Physician and patient surveys
- Multinational (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK)
- Real-world
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Tested for RET mutation, overall
75%
Type of RET testing: germline only / somatic only / both
35% / 21% / 44%
First-line systemic therapy (most commonly vandetanib or cabozantinib), overall
69%
First-line systemic therapy, RET mutation-positive subgroup
82%
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Median age
Years
- Median age, overall
- 60
- Median age, RET mutation-positive
- 56
Barriers to RET mutation testing
- Common physician-cited barriers: high cost, difficulty accessing latest tests, time delay for results
PROs
- PROs revealed substantial disease/treatment burden
Original publication
Real-world clinical profile, RET mutation testing, treatments and patient-related outcomes for medullary thyroid cancer in Europe. Eur Thyroid J. Published 19 February 2024. doi:10.
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